Peer Pressure or Motivation?

When I first started writing, I was a little reluctant to tell people I had plans for a novel. Perhaps I had some odd opinion of people who boast about their literary endeavors, or maybe I didn't want people to wonder when the hell the thing would be ready. If I may reference a show that does nothing but reference other things, there is a very telling scene in an episode of Family Guy that explains such a fear. In the scene, Brian says he could really use some time off for vacation. Stewey then mocks him by bringing up the "novel" he's been working on, proceeding to go on a diatribe of sarcasm and bring up all the things a writer SHOULD be doing, which Brian obviously has not.

To cite a somewhat classier example, there is a short one-act play by Tennesse Williams (I forget the name, "Lady of the Something Something Lotion") that details a Blanche DuBois-like character living in her own fantasy world and she is visited by her neighbor, a writer who has a breakdown when he confesses that the "700 page masterpiece" he has stored away is nothing more than a handful of notes he left at the bottom of a trunk years ago and hasn't touched since.

That's what I, and many writers I assume, fear becoming. We're reluctant to reveal our ambitions to people for fear of looking foolish when they never come to fruition. Fear and doubt like this plays a big part in my outlook on writing since I have told many of my friends and family members it's my intention to publish a book at some point. Recently I've been told that my friend Neesha has recommneded my blog to her students, so that's even more people who know about my plans.

The point of this leads to an important question. Do you want the pressure of expectation? Further more, is expecation really pressure, or is it a form of motivation? In the end, if something causes you to write more and write quickly, thus creating the product you wanted all along, is that a bad thing? Whether expectations of your friends and family be peer pressure or a form of motivation, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that you reach closer to that goal of creating and sharing something that is original and that could only have existed because of your actions. Whatever may have been pushing you along all the time is of no consequence to a reader.

Don't Let Them Die! (Or Maybe Do...)

I realized today that, after getting back to novel work after some time off, that the way I saw my characters had completely changed. I saw their motivations differently, I wanted them saying something in a whole new way. So in essence, the characters I had spent some serious time building weeks ago are now gone. Dead. Deceased. No more.

I've heard of this happening with writers. Many say it's important to work on your story every single day. They say to not ignore your characters, otherwise they begin to slip and you forget who they were. Since your characters only have you to represent them, if you don't try, then they're gone from the world of readers eyes. Make sense?

What didn't make sense about that theory is that I realized the new way I wrote my characters was actually better that what I was doing before. Each action a person takes leading up to plot points makes more sense now and doesn't come off as contrived because I've changed the way they act. So in reality, NOT writing for several weeks was the saving grace of this story. I like what they're all doing now. I'm excited to write this tale again! Good God, I should slack off more sometime. I'll have a best seller on my hands!